Monday was my most intense "winemaking" day yet. Since Jesse and David are both leaving for two weeks of vacation on Wednesday morning--both attempts to recharge batteries before the 18 hour harvest days of September and October--there was much preparatory work and cleaning to be done.
In an all day project, we "topped off" all 200 or so barrels of the 2009 vintage red wine aging in the barrel room. It is a difficult two-person job. One guy removes the plug or "bung" at the top of the barrel, fills the empty space (empty because of evaporation) with extra wine, and moves to the next barrel. The next guy uses a tube to suck off any "scuzz" or particulate matter formed on top of the wine, drops the wine into a bucket carabinered onto the racks holding up the barrels, then replaces the bung. Repeat. 200 times. The exciting thing about all this is that you get do it while climbing on the tops of barrels, scaling the stacked barrels by wedging yourself between them, the same way you might have climbed walls in your house when you were a kid. Drop any wine on any of the barrels, make any red drop on any oak barrel, and you are in trouble. David will bring justice upon you (he has a fanatical distaste for red spots on oak barrels). On the other hand, if you fall, injure yourself, or die--it doesn't matter. As long as you do not get any barrels dirty. On one occasion, I dropped my "sucking tube" that was full of wine while I was standing on top of the fourth, and top barrel, in a stack. I watched in agony as it fell to the floor; it was like slow motion, wine spewing out from either end on all nearby barrels. Then it hit the ground with a thud, the remaining wine forming a dark red pool around it. I freaked out, frantically cleaned up everything with a small towel I had dragged around with me to clean up any errant drops, and returned to the lab to get a new towel. Unfortunately, David, was sitting in the lab. He saw my soiled towel, my stained pants and shirt, and made no sound as he put both hands in the air and shook his head in that disappointed way that communicated all too clearly: "what the f*** Jonathon?", "how could you do this to me?" I explained what happened, told him I would take care of it, and walked out of the lab with a clean towel and my tail between my legs. (This probably why it was so hard for me to secure a job out here this summer. Free labor is sometimes more expensive than paying someone who knows what they are doing.)
The rest of the day was better, and after 6 hours straight of climbing all over barrels, I was exhausted and covered in wine. My clothes were ruined, but I looked totally awesome--like a real winemaker. Or, at least, a cellar rat.
Jesse told me I can be proud to wear those stained clothes back in New York or Boston. He told me to wait for people to say (if at a party):
"Jonathon, it looks like you spilled some wine on your shirt (haha)".
And then reply:
"Oh jeez (you say this part slowly while laughing a little bit at your carelessness), I guess that is wine (you say that part matter of factly), probably leftover from when I was (and then pounce...)making wine in the Napa Valley".
Hardwork and enthusiasm was enough for Jesse.
As for David, I tried to buy his friendship: Before he left Tuesday, I bought four bottles of the wine that he makes as a side project to his work at O'Brien. The wine is called Kind, it is fantastic Cabernet Sauvignon, really some of the best Napa Valley Red Wine I have had. Wine that will earn very high scores if he ever submits it to Wine Spectator.
Since the winemaking guys have left for vacation, the rest of my time spent here will be working on my financial model and any other analysis that should be done, and working in the tasting room.
Tuesday, I gave a couple of pressure packed tours: one to a future boss at Bain Capital, who was in town with his wife for a co-workers wedding, and one to my mom and sister.
Just 1 bottle of wine sold to four people who actually know me. Thank you Jilian.
Sunday through Tuesday Scorecard (very bad showing): 1 workout, 2+ drinks, 0 ESV, 0 French.
glad to be a customer. but now im denying norman of opening it. it has to be a special event. good to see you! thanks for the dinners and hospitality. hope you get to make it to a few more wineries before the stint is up. if not...i would totally go back and tour with you...as long as the tastings don't reach over 20 bucks!
ReplyDelete